Gray
by Magic Flying Spud
Summary: Two months after the Lowardian Invasion, an arms race has begun and Global Justice wants Team Possible to join their ranks. Meanwhile, amongst prison break-outs, kidnappings, and Freshman year, Dr. Drakken has returned from a hiatus and seems to be working towards creating the ultimate weapon. But things aren't black and white like they used to be. Some things are gray.
1. Chapter 1: Green

"You take Shego and I'll take Drakken."

"Yeah, sure I'll-wait...KP. You fight Shego, I create a distraction. There's a way to how these things work."

"Ron! Do you trust me enough to trust you?"

"...is that a trick question, KP?"

"Oy, are you two done jabbering yet? Drakken and I go off the grid for two months and suddenly you two buffoons forget the key rule here."

"And what's that Shego?"

Two plasma blasts later and the male half of Team Possible found himself semi-conscious, flat against a vat of some dreaded, evil chemical in the lair of the infamous Professor Dementor. Ever since Ron had taken down the Lowardians on Graduation Day, Kim, Global Justice, and Sensei had put through him through grueling training on a daily basis. Definitely not the three months of marinating he had been hoping for.

**Professor Dementor's Lair: Somewhere in Germany  
August 16, 2007: 7:37PM**

Opening his eyes, all he saw was green. Leaping up the vat he narrowly avoided two of Shego's fists crashing into the vat, leaving behind indents slowly melting from the emerald flames her hands produce. She brought her arms over her head for another stab at the buffoon, but instead his feet collided with her upper body in a swing very reminiscent of a monkey in flight.

She slid back several feet, an amused expression on her face, her hands still glowing. "You're not half bad, Buffoon," she remarked.

"Yeah, Shego, this whole quip thing...not gonna work for me," Ron replied, hands on his hips. "This not being a distraction thing's kinda new territory. See, I feel like right here KP might say something about your hair, but I don't want to come off as sexist or nothing," he explained, waving his hands frantically. "So I dunno, what do you think?"

"I think you should completely disregard what I just said," she sighed before jumping back into combat.

Meanwhile, the female half of Team Possible was halfway up the wall leading to Level Two of Dementor's lair. She could have already gotten to Drakken by that point, but she took it slow so she could watch over the two. She had to be absolutely sure that her boyfriend was fairing well against her arch-nemesis before she could proceed.

He seemed to be doing alright enough so she scaled up the rest of her grappling line and made it to the next level, only to be greeted by a trio of burly men in dull gray and red jumpsuits.

She leaped forward but felt two apelike arms wrap around her from behind. He started to say something, probably something snarky but she wasn't exactly paying attention. Taking advantage of the moment, she thrust her head up into the man's chin, then stomped her feet into his. The grip on her loosened and at the very moment she mustered all the strength she could to throw the titan against the cold, steel floor.

Flipping her auburn hair back into place, Kim's scowl snapped into a playful grin. Her arm rose and two of her fingers twitched back towards her. Two of the goons made a charge towards her as one of their numbers, a lankier, slack-jawed minion, ran off like Hell was on his heels; Myron, Dementor's brother-in-law.

* * *

Shaking with fear, Myron rapped his hand against a door. Hot steam was pouring out from under it. A high-pitched voice with a heavy German accent shrieked back, "VHAT DO YOU VANT?!"

"Sir," Myron began, "There is a situation that requires your immediate attent-"

"I AM BUSY!" Dementor shouted from behind the door. "You can take care of it, I'm sure," he remarked gently.

"But it's urg-"

"I DON'T CARE VHAT IT IS I'M BUSY JUST DO YOUR JOB! AM I UNDERSTOOD...vait, Myron? I banished you to the strudel factory!"

Myron blinked, his hand escaping to the nape of his neck, "Your uh...sister left me so I thought I'd camp out here...uh...bro."

"THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!" Dementor shrieked. "Myron, seriously, you've got to get your life together."

"I know," he sighed. Looking at his feet, he meekly added, "Hey, uh, you think I could stay the night here? Hildegard took the house and whenever I sleep in the strudel factory I always wake up in the company dumpster covered in pastries. Not the worst thing in the world, I mean a guy's gotta eat and-"

"MYRON! ENOUGH ABOUT THE PASTRIES! ...Oy, vhat do I look like? The lost home for rejected husbands? I'm a supervillain, Myron! I take over the vorld! And you vant to freeload amongst mein doomsday machines? NEIN! NEIN NEIN NEIN!"

"Yo! Dude! I don't even know what you're saying," Myron laughed.

"I'm saying GET TO VORK!" Dementor shrieked.

"Yessir!" Myron yelped before returning to the battlefield.

* * *

Myron returned to the battlefield to find that his target was standing on both heads of his comrades. Her feet clicked together, sending both faces crashing into each other. Then, with a somersault, she landed back on the ground whilst the two goons slumped towards the floor.

The former brother-in-law to the mad scientist readied himself, hopping from one foot to the other, and then charged headfirst into combat with the legendary Kim Possible. To say the least, it wasn't his best decision of the day.

Below, Ron and Shego were still at it. Oddly enough, they were evenly matched. Neither could get more than one hit on the other. It was a constant string of back-and-forths. Ron would bring his knee to Shego's face, but she would follow up with a punch to his stomach. Before she could pursue with an uppercut he would elbow her and raise his leg for a kick, only to be thrown via his leg to the ground.

Struggling to get back up, he felt the heat of her plasma again. His hands jumped up just in time to grab Shego by the wrists, stopping the plasma mere inches from his face. But there were no signs of it puttering out.

"Yeah," Shego smirked, "This isn't really your kind of territory, rookie. You were better off when you ran around losing your pants."

Fighting the urge to explain that he doesn't lose his pants as often as people say he does, he put all his energy into his legs, managing to kick her off of him and back into the vat of what he was sure were highly toxic chemicals.

Shego got up to her feet, a dent left in her wake, grimacing at her reflection in the vat. If word got out on this one, it would totally kill her rep. Twisting around, she spotted an airborne Ron Stoppable about to dropkick her through the floor. Raising her hands, she managed to catch his foot, holding his entire body over her, and with a good push, sent him soaring up and over the vat. But instead of the splash she was hoping for she only heard a loud KLUNK!

Rubbing his head with his free hand, he started to heave himself back onto the brim of the vat. Beaten, bruised, and a little bloodied, he fought every urge to let himself drop.

Then he thought of Kim, and the rest was easy. In a second he was back on his two feet.

"You're pretty persistent, huh, newbie?" Shego sneered, patiently waiting for Ron to initiate combat. "Since you pretty much dropped the ball on your last 'attack,' I'll give ya a second chance."

And the fight started anew.

* * *

A mechanical door slid open, a pile of four men left behind on the other side, as a grimacing Kim Possible entered the lair, completely unscathed from the quartet of goons.

"Hello, Kimberly Ann," a familiar blue-skinned mad scientist greeted warmly as he sorted through an array of blueprints, not budging an inch from his spot.

Quietly, the door closed behind her and she advanced further into the room. No gadgets or anything in this room. Just a run of the mill workshop. Like a garage.

"Stealing invention designs again, Drakken?" Kim asked, "Two months and it seems that you're as uncreative as ever."

There was a long pause between the two. Drakken continued to search through the blueprints, throwing the bad ones off to the side as he coolly looked for his objective.

"Ron has Shego taken care of Drakken," Kim said, filling in the silence. "So it's just you and me, and we both know how that will end so let's call it quits right now and make it easy for ourselves."

Nothing.

Kim walked up to Drakken, grabbing for his shoulder when she felt something tight wrap around her neck, nearly crushing it. It was a pain like never before. Looking down, the culprit appeared to be a vine that was protruding from Drakken's neck. A remainder from the formula that made him into a human marigold before the Lowardian Invasion.

"It seems you've forgotten about my little friend here," Drakken murmured as the vine pulled her to the ground, its grip like a vice. "Now, I'm on a very tight schedule today, so I don't really have time to monologue about my plan and all. Maybe next time but for now..." he trailed off, lifting up a particular blueprint. Kim couldn't see the details, but she knew it was important enough.

In a flash, she flung out her hair-drying grappling gun and fired at the table where all the prints were, its hook penetrating the weak wood. With a tug of both arms, the table flew towards her, slamming right into Drakken's stomach, the blueprints thrown to the air, flying around like a storm.

The grip on the vine loosening, her foot slammed down on the tendril while it still lied on the floor, crushing it just enough to slip away. Rubbing her neck, she jumped up to her feet just as Drakken did.

"Nnyrgh," Drakken growled before two vines shot at her, twirling like a fan. With a few jumps and twirls, she made it through the mess with only a few scratches. Contrary to their whip-like appearance, the vines felt more like blades.

Leaping forward, she dove at him but before making contact a blue force-field materialized around him seemingly out of nowhere, throwing her backwards several yards. The vines immediately slammed into her, securing her to the floor.

"I've made a few improvements since we last encountered each other, Kimberly Ann," Drakken explained, a finger resting on a new belt loaded with various buttons and switches. He threw a switch and the force-field dematerialized.

Meanwhile, Drakken dug into his lab-coat and pulled out a series of note cards. His eyes widened as he plucked several of them out, tossing them to the side. "Uh...nyeh...ergh!" Poking a finger into his ear he began barking orders, "Shego!"

It was hard to hear, but Kim could hear a scratchy recording of Shego coming from what she guessed was a radio.

"Little busy, boss!" Shego shouted.

"Ergh! Something's come up! We're going from Note Card #4 to Note Card #12."

His finger dropped from his ear as he leered at the meddlesome agent. "Just so you know, Note Card #12's the fun one," he gloated, right as the door opened back up. Except instead of either Shego or Ron, it was Professor Dementor; wrapped up in a very fine Hugh Hefner styled bathrobe, his villainous beard shaven to malicious perfection, and happily singing along to German polka emitting from his very large headphones.

He immediately stopped, tossing the headphones to the ground and stomping up to Drakken.

"DRAKKEN?! VHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!? YOU SAID YOU'D BE HERE AT EIGHT!" he took in a deep breath and repeated in a shrill shout, "EIIIGHT!" Looking over at Kim he explained in a voice sweet as honey, "Ve're having a tea party, child...BUT YOU HAVE THE NERVE TO COME HERE EARLY! You say eight, I start getting ready at seven fifteen! I am a busy man, Drakken! I take over the vorld, I train mein minions, I vork on mein biography! Vhat are you trying to say?! That I should just roll over for you?!"

By this time he was in full-swing. Leaping around Drakken, throwing his arms in the air, pacing in circles, voice cracking occasionally.

"Eight is eight, NOT SEVEN FIFTY THREE! SEVEN MINUTES! Are you saying I showered too long?! And most importantly, VHY ARE MY BLUE PRINTS ALL OVER THE PLACE, VHY ARE MEIN MINIONS UNCONSCIOUS, AND VHY IS KIM POSSIBLE HERE?!"

He took another deep breath and finally sighed, "Really, Drew. That's gotta stop."

And then he heard a monstrous boom from behind the door. Before he could even properly react to it, a vine had swept him off his feet and soon he was being carried out the door.

* * *

He could barely hear what Drakken was saying from Shego's scratchy radio, what with the punching and the hitting, but it sounded as if their game plan was changing up. Which meant that Kim had definitely made progress. _Go KP!_ he thought proudly, swinging for a right hook, only to miss completely. Shego somersaulted backwards and landed nimbly on the edge of the vat, hands glowing again.

Except this time she threw those blasts into the vat and not at him. Ron could only guess that was a bad thing, so on instinct he dove forward, shoving Shego off the vat and extending his very own grappling hook.

The blast behind them was deafening, a mighty roar. The heat was scathing, even though they were yards away, swinging from a girder a floor above them. Ron never actually got to see the eruption. He looked down to check if Shego was alright, and for his gratitude received a swift sucker punch to the face that knocked him off the rope and into the growing blazes below.

* * *

"NEIN! Mein lab! Vhat is the meaning of this, Drakken?!" Dementor whined as he kicked his feet, trying to escape from Drakken's vine.

Shego landed beside them with Ron's grapple in her hand. "Here ya go, Princess," she laughed, tossing the device into Kim's shadow.

"You can thank Kimberly Ann for all this, Dementor. I only wanted to look at what you've been working on, but she had to make a mess of things," Drakken explained gleefully. "And unfortunately, I'm too busy to look through everything again so I'm afraid your entire lair's just going to have go up. Don't take it personally, it's not you, and it's not me. Just what's necessary," he paused, his confidence uncanny. "Oh and by the way, I nicked the Pans-Dimensional Vortex Inducer when you weren't looking," he said matter-of-factly, tossing the purple cube into the air and throwing it back in his pocket.

A loud THWUMP and Dementor was freed from Drakken's grasp. He immediately got to his knees, pleading before his arch-nemesis.

"Drew, don't do this! I-this is my life! Ve vere supposed to have a tea party! I have very nice schnitzel vaiting!" Dementor pleaded, his vulnerability obvious.

Drakken let out a very forced yawn, and tossed Kim to the ground and slowly advanced on Dementor, stepping forward until the two were pressed tightly against a rail that's drop-off lead to the fire a story below.

"As they say in your home country, Demenz...Auf Wiedersehen!"

His foot shot upwards and just like that the rail snapped, Dementor's small body breaking through and falling into the fire below, his pleas for mercy cut short. By now, the fire had begun to spread into wildfire territory, the entire first floor nothing but a red blaze.

From above, an explosion ripped through the roof, a heavy-duty rope emerging soon afterwards, stopping right between Shego and Drakken. Above them, a helicopter waited.

The former was the first to jump on, shooting a wink at Kim. "Just so you know, Kimmie, your boyfriend is behind that big chemical vat in the center." Her voice was oozing with sarcasm, perfectly imitating an adult talking to a newborn baby. "And also," she added on, "There's a loooot of explosives around here so you better rescue the buffoon and book it before the Big Boom."

Drakken's turn to gloat. He leapt onto the rope and threw his arm out with exaggerated flourish. As the duo soared into the air, his cry faded away, but it was still very clear. "You think you're all that Kim Possible, but you're not!"

Taking one last moment to dwell on the villains getting away Kim went right back into action, leaping down first to where Professor Dementor had landed. Fortunately he was still breathing, albeit unconscious. Slinging him over her shoulder, she heard the chirping of a certain naked mole rat in her vicinity. Looking to her left, she saw the fur-less pink rodent frantically pointing around the vat.

Charging around it, she gasped. There stood Ron with a heavy bruise on his face, the fire having burned through his shirt and possibly several layers of his skin. Somehow, he was still standing, although she could see the consciousness fading from him. Running over, she scooped him up on her other shoulder.

"KP, I'm sorry," Ron wheezed.

"Ron, you were perfect," she said calmly. "Stay with me."

The inferno only got worse as Kim trudged through it, the heat unbearable, but she just had to remember her family's motto and she knew she'd pull through. A thought lingered at the back of her head though; what about the four minions they-no-she left behind? The ones she had personally clobbered.

It had to be done. They knew the risks.

...right?

**Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean  
August 16, 2007: 11:32PM**

A half hour later and Team Possible was being flown back to Middleton via a Global Justice Jet, a very angry Dementor incarcerated in the back. His lab ended up going up in the "Big Boom" as Shego had predicted. Several extremely dangerous 'doomsday' machines were the cause of that. It seemed that Drakken was eliminating his competition as per usual.

But Kim couldn't stop thinking about what the bad doctor said. _Just what's necessary._ Whatever that meant.

Three hours later though and neither Kim nor Ron had said a word to each other. For the first hour, Ron was undergoing some serious medical attention. The other two hours however were more solemn. They sat there, staring out in opposite directions, miles apart from each other. Although they were both at the same place; Dementor's Lair.

Ron, who had the window seat, was starting to get an indentation on his cheek from leaning on the glass.

Eventually, one of them finally spoke up.

"KP, I'm sorry," Ron finally sighed, trying hard not to look at her. "I...I messed up today. You trusted me to take care of Shego and I messed up big time. She ran circles around me. I don't know how you do it."

Kim turned to look at Ron and saw the hurt on his face. Her hand crept over to his, grabbing it gently. "Ron, she didn't look so hot when I saw her. Don't sell yourself short, okay?"

"It's just..." Ron started, then heaved out a sigh. "KP, I have good news, and I have bad news," he said very slowly, careful with his wording.

"What's the good news?" she asked in her usual perky demeanor. She gave his hand a gentle squeeze. She knew this wasn't going to be good news, but maybe pretending would help Ron sort it out.

"Okay...um...KP...the good news is...you can go to any college you want this year because...bad news...I didn't get into any of yours. Or anything near the area. At all." He immediately averted her gaze. This was it. They were going to break up right there. He deserved it. This is what he got for cruising through high school with all C's.

Instead he got quite the opposite of what he expected. Her hands were swiveling him around and before he knew it her soft lips were pressing against his. All the pain from the battle was gone. When she pulled away, he almost forgot what an abysmal failure he was.

"So...what's next then?" Kim asked him.

"I got into Lowerton State University," he answered with a bit of a forced bravado. "They have a nice Culinary Arts Program. Uh, so I've heard."

"That's great, Ron," Kim smiled, trying to keep chipper. She couldn't deny she was disappointed a little, but they had to stay strong. If anything ever broke them up, this would not be the wedge. They were better than that.

"I'm going to work as hard as I can to transfer out second semester, though. KP, I promise you that. Okay?"

So not the wedge.

The remaining seven hours of the flight went along much better.


	2. Chapter 2: Navy

"Have the three of you been briefed on why you are here today?"

**Global Justice HQ: Location Unknown**  
**August 17, 2007: 1:32 PM**

The four members of Team Possible (including a certain naked mole rat) shook their heads, having received summons a week prior to the date.

"Well then. I'll cut to the chase," Dr. Betty Director said from behind her desk, glaring at the three with a serious look. "The three of you are being offered positions on the team. Two as field units and one as a technical department head. Regardless, you will all go through the same training. That is, if you accept."

Out of the trio, Wade Load was the most excited. It was a big deal to see Wade outside of his 'office,' but this seemed to be a worthy enough cause.

Ron seemed to be the least impressed, staring off into the distance, acknowledging the announcement with a very brief moment of eye contact before looking at the wall behind the Director. No matter what Kim told him, walking into Global Justice HQ with several bandages and stitches only made him feel like a failure.

Between both of the boys, Kim allowed herself a flicker of a smile before reverting to business mode. She had wanted this for a long time, but now that the opportunity was facing her, she couldn't find any words. There were a lot of questions to be asked. Why us? When would we go through this 'training?' How does joining Global Justice benefit us?

...And how did you get your eye patch?

None of them spoke a word, so Dr. Director took the initiative to push things forward.

"Wade, your technical know-how is invaluable to the team, and we believe that giving you your own lab would be very beneficial to our agents," she explained stoically, swiveling in her chair to face Kim. "Kimberly, you've saved the world from sure destruction more times than any of my own men." She swiveled again, this time to face Ron. "And Ronald..." There was a pause. Wade didn't get a pause. Nor did Kim. "As have you."

She faced center again and looked down at all three of them now.

"Wade, if you were to accept, your training would begin come September. And as for you two, am I correct in that you're both going to college?"

"Harvard," Kim affirmed.

"Lowerton State University," Ron said, trying to match his girlfriend's tone, while also shooting her a confused glance that read, _When did you decide on that?_

Kim shot him a look that said, _We'll talk about it later._

Ron nodded back to her with a weak smile, then looking back to Betty and falling into his slouch once again.

"We have a training program for students that easily meshes together with an academic calendar. While not the easiest thing to deal with, I'm sure you two could handle it. Additionally, your summer breaks for the next three years will belong to us. Think of it like an extended boot camp," she finished, finally smiling. "So what do you say?"

Kim looked at both men flanking her and noticed neither were up for talking. They were both contemplating something, something intense. Kim sighed, trying to gather some words, and forced a smile. "Betty, I appreciate the offer but Ron, Wade, and I need some time to think this over. We can get back to you in a few days, if that's accept-"

"I'll get back to you now," Ron interrupted, his voice harsh and heavy. He immediately felt a kick to his ankle. "Ow!" he cried out, looking over at Kim. "Look, Betty...uh...Dr. Director, I appreciate the offer too, but it's gonna have to be a no."

"Ron...?" Kim asked, a questioning look in her eyes mixed with a pinch of anger.

"KP, if you want in, that's fine. But I can't."

"Why?" Kim shot back.

"Because...I think Bett-Dr. Director, wants me for a different reason than why she wants you. Am I right when I say that?" he asked, his slump fading away with his newfound confidence. There was a gap of silence. Sighing, Ron decided to take on the elephant in the room. "A couple of months ago the Lowardians invaded, and we, as in KP and I, kinda left the impression that it was Dr. Drakken and Shego who saved the day."

"Are you saying there was someone else?" Dr. Director asked, stoney faced as before.

"I'm saying Global Justice knows that's a lie," Ron finished, leaning back in his chair, arms folded. Throughout summer, Wade had spent an ample amount of time tracking any footage of Ron's monkey-style smack down and simultaneously stomping it out. Unfortunately, that footage wound up in bad places. They could only guess Global Justice had taken a gander at it.

Dr. Director glared at him and after an uncomfortable pause, pressed a button on her desk. A massive projector screen began clanking its way down the wall behind her until it was fully unrolled. An image was being projected on it, that of a young man no older than eighteen, taking on two green aliens at least three times larger than he was. He handled them with ease, throwing them around like they were children.

And then suddenly the boy started glowing blue and a crimson vortex appeared around him and everything went black. It was only a ten second clip, but it was very telling.

"Son," Dr. Director started as the screen quietly hummed its way back up the wall. "Ever since the invasion, an arms race has been growing. The world needs to be ready, especially now that they know there is life outside this planet. The progression made already has been astounding. I'm guessing it's the reason why Dr. Drakken has returned back to his life of crime."

"So I'm just a bigger gun for you guys?" Ron spat.

"Ron, hold on." This time it was Wade's turn to talk. He looked cross now. "There is indeed an arms race. I've been tracking budgets of governments and where the money has been going. Lots of sealed off humanitarian efforts, no dice on results though. I'm guessing that's the arms race you were talking about."

He continued, calmer, "And although I can't confirm it, I believe that Global Justice is part of that weapon escalation effort. I've detected rumors of...well, as Ron put it, 'a big gun.'"

"There is no 'big gun,'" Dr. Director replied curtly, her demeanor the same as before, her hands still neatly folded besides the plaque on her desk. "We, as in Global Justice, believe escalating the arms race can only lead to more devastation because there will always be a bigger gun. As such, we're instead expanding the operation by adding more able-bodied troops and academic types, like yourself Mr. Load."

"Uh, I think that still falls under 'arms race,' Betty," Ron snarked.

"Ronald," she said with some restraint, "You're potential. We at Global Justice see a lot of potential in Team Possible. But given recent failures such as last night, it's clear that your team is not fully prepared for what's out there," Ron's mouth opened to object but a gentle hand rubbed against his shoulder, Kim's hand. Dr. Director proceeded, "We believe that joining Global Justice can only help all three of you broaden your horizons and help the world in ways you never thought were possible. And with what's been going on, you three could really do some good."

Ron got up from his chair roughly, straining several of his weakened muscles in the progress. He looked down at Kim and then up at the Director. The anger was gone, replaced with hurt and sorrow.

"I'm sorry, but I can't accept your offer."

And with that he walked out.

**The Treehouse: Middleton, Colorado**  
**August 17, 2007: 3:18 PM**

Since the Lowardian Invasion, the world had been in a state of recovery. Entire cities had been leveled by the alien attackers. Forests had been scorched, cities were left in ruins, and countless lives had been claimed, countless more unaccounted for still.

Fortunately, Middleton had been fortunate enough to survive. Aside from Bueno Nacho, and the Possible residence, both of which had been completely decimated, the rest of the city suffered from more minor destruction. A handful of craters, some homes left in ruins, an armada of alien probes lying around covered in Dr. Drakken's super hi-pollinator formula, and several missing persons. That was the average story for a city. Middleton was lucky.

Throughout summer, Kim and her family had been living with the Stoppables while their home underwent reconstruction. Hanging out in Ron's house ended up being a little crammed, so this lead to the marinating taking place in the old treehouse, that is when there was time to marinate. The summer of 2007 was mostly a reconstruction effort.

Whenever possible, Team Possible would travel around the world to places in need and help the people. They had dealt with floods, forest fires, earthquakes, and government coups. As well as general reconstruction in terms of people's torn apart homes. Not as much work on the super-villain end.

Even though it had only been two months, Kim and Ron were getting used to the tragedy. The duo had embarked on many search and rescues, and none of them had yielded fruit.

What was truly amazing about all of it was how it had all been the work of two people, or rather, creatures; Warmonga and Warhok. And it happened in mere hours. The news was still flooding with reports on how the world had not been prepared to take on the invasion and that it was only by chance that things happened to go south for the aliens. Several simulations had been ran and they only pointed to one thing; a few more hours and all several trillion residents of Earth, as well as the planet itself, would have been gone.

Basically, everything Dr. Director said was true. And that's what was killing him.

For the past two hours Ron waited on the couch in his tree house, flicking the prongs on the fork in his hand back and forth, staring up at the ceiling. Ever since he was a kid, it was a sanctuary to him. And now it was time to go.

"Ron?" he heard from below.

"Hey KP," he groaned.

In anxiety, he waited to commence damage control as she clambered up the old treehouse ladder, trying to prepare an explanation for his actions, because that combined with his lackluster performance the past mission, meant the end of the Possible-Stoppable team.

Her head popped out of the hatch and-was-was she smiling?

"Hey," she said softly, climbing onto the couch and gently pushing Ron's head into her lap, one of her fingers twirling around a tuft of his blonde locks. "So...Sensei wouldn't approve, huh?"

"Wait, what?" Ron asked, snapping out of his comfort.

"When I say 'spill,' that's what you would say. So let's move to option B," she said with a snide smile.

"First off, what did you go over with Betty?" he asked, eyes darting around nervously.

"I said I need time to think about it." A sigh of relief from Ron. "Because I want to hear from you first..."

"Alright...but I need to be sitting up to say this."

"Gotcha."

She propped him back up in the couch and gave him a second to recuperate.

"I'm ready," he gulped, his voice a little higher than he wanted.

"Alright...so...spill," she smiled, trying to maintain a playful atmosphere.

"I like what we have, KP." he sighed, closing his eyes and drooping over himself like a wilting flower.

No response. Opening his eyes, he looked into her emerald ones. She didn't understand.

"What do you mean?" she asked innocently.

"Y'know, you, me, Wade, and Rufus. The Four Amigo's. I don't want to lose that. It's...you're going to Harvard. Felix is going to MIT. Monique's heading off to FIT in New York. And I'm stuck here in Middleton because I bummed my way through high school. And then there was last night. You trusted me, and I failed you." He noticed Kim was about to object so he quickly retorted, "But you still trust me. In Global Justice, I don't think anyone would take me seriously."

"Ron," she laughed, "You're the guy who threw two stinkin' aliens miles into the sky and into that battleship. Dr. Director even said you have a lot of potential."

He winced at the remark about the battleship, but continued nonetheless, "KP, I just don't want to lose you." Biting his lip, he asked, "That's a little desperate, huh?"

"No, Ron. I understand." She looked at him, her eyes heavier than usual, a look that reminded him that they have been best friends since pre-k.

He looked at her her, his jaw hanging uselessly. "Oh."

"But, at the same time, Ron, this is a big deal. This is something I've been hoping for, y'know? I'll talk to Dr. Director about it and see what we can set-up," she said, softly laying Ron's body against the couch.

"I'll talk to Sensai," he said wistfully, closing his eyes to fully absorb his girlfriend's caress when his head slid against a cushion. "KP, whaaaaaat are you doing?" he jumbled, afraid as she leered over him.

Sighing, she laid on top of him, curling her body against his.

"Ohhhh, this is kinda nice..." he mused, voice still quavering.

"Ron, we've been dating for over a year now," she yawned.

Both of their eyes shut and there was peace for that moment before Ron's eyes snapped back open.

"KP, your dad's not going to send me into a black hole, is he?"

"Ron," she groaned, "We've done worse..."

"KP!" he started shouting, nearly hopping off the couch, "I'm going to be-oh-mmmm..." Halfway through his anguished cries, their lips had locked. One fun filled minute later and they finally parted.

"...definitely sent into that black hole now," his voice cracked as he fell back into the couch, flat as a board.

"Don't worry, I'll go with you."

"Really?"

"Ron, do you REALLY think my dad would launch you into a black hole via space probe?"

"There's no right answer to that, is there?"

"Ron!" she laughed, snuggling closer to him, nearly pushing him off the couch.

"Whoa! Don't rock the boat, KP!" he squealed as the entire treehouse creaked, threatening to collapse below them. After some rustling they managed to find a comfortable spot where they once again fell silent for a bit, and once again Ron broke the silence.

"This college thing..." Ron sighed, barely awake. "I don't even know."

"Don't even know what, Ron?" Kim yawned.

Yawning in return, Ron replied, "Like, how we're gonna talk, when we can go on missions, if we can go on missions."

A long pause.

"Yeah..." she sighed, slightly more awake now. "It's going to be weird, but we'll get through it."

"Why Harvard, KP? I thought you wanted to go international," Ron asked, trying to play it off as a casual question, but she could hear the impending doom behind his voice.

"I mean, I like the city, I like the program, and Harvard has a lot of prestige," she listed off, "I don't know what I want to major in. I was looking into law, as well as criminal psychology and medicine, but it'd be a good start I think. It's the place to be."

Ron was good at hearing the impending doom too. "KP, you can be honest with me," Ron said weakly.

"I am being honest with you," she replied with a slight frown.

"Okay," he smiled, rustling back into position to look at the wall which still read "NO GIRLS ALLOWED."_ I should probably get rid of that,_ he thought.

"You know what's gonna be even weirder?" he said finally.

"What?"

"Not having a class with Mr. Barkin."


End file.
